"Dekinai"

According to psych-rock cosmology, bands are doomed to follow one of two trajectories: they can continue to expand their trippy jams indefinitely-- whereby the music will eventually grow dissolute and intolerable (see late-era Grateful Dead)-- or they can collapse toward their center and embrace some modicum of restraint. Tokyo's Yura Yura Teikoku is on the latter track. "Dekinai", from the their 2007 LP, Hollow Me-- just now seeing U.S. release on DFA, along with the companion EP Beautiful-- illustrates that the trio is in the midst of a big crunch. Mantra-like tick-tocking guitar figures gurgle through a tremolo pedal, locking tightly with a rhythm section that's more infatuated with ESG than Blue Cheer. Opportunities for blistering fish-faced shredding abound, but the seemingly inevitable guitar solo is never delivered. Which is OK-- Yura Yura Teikoku, having formed all the way back in 1989, have had 20 years to do the face-melting thing. By breaking things down and drawing inward, the band has opened up a whole new universe for itself.